A watermelon seller outsmarts a government official at his own game. Hikoichi doesn't have rank or education, just the kind of practical intelligence that makes bureaucrats look foolish without breaking a sweat. He solves impossible problems the way someone solves real life: not with ceremony, but with the thing everyone else missed.

A watermelon seller named Hikoichi is outside the castle with Osato, trying to sell their large harvest, when the two run into Chuemon, a chief counselor. Chuemon is stuck: an envoy from a neighboring land has made an unreasonable demand, and he needs someone sharp to help him answer it. Hikoichi makes him an offer: if he wins the contest of wits, Chuemon buys every last watermelon. What follows is a series of tasks that look impossible, which Hikoichi overcomes through cleverness and unorthodox thinking. The short film moves at a lively rhythm and celebrates both wisdom and courage. It took the Gold prize at the Tokyo Educational Film Competition.